Pope: Only Holy Spirit Can Speak to Our Hearts of God's Love

Reflects at General Audience on Third Person of Trinity

Francis says that listening to the Holy Spirit gives the confidence of knowing that we are loved.

The Pope said this at the general audience Wednesday, which he dedicated to the theme of the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity.

"Men of all times and all places want a life that is full and beautiful, just and good, a life that is not threatened by death, but that can mature and grow to its fullness. Man is like a wanderer who, crossing the deserts of life, thirsts for a living water, gushing and fresh, able to quench deeply his profound desire for light, love, beauty and peace," the Holy Father said. "We all feel this desire! And Jesus gives us this living water: it is the Holy Spirit, who proceeds from the Father, and that Jesus pours out into our hearts."

This living water can quench "the very depths of our thirst," the Pope said, because "it makes us partakers of the very life of God who is Love."

"The Spirit itself, together with our spirit, attests that we are children of God," he continued. "And if we are children, we are also heirs: heirs of God, joint-heirs with Christ."

"This," Francis said, "is the precious gift that the Holy Spirit places in our hearts: the very life of God, life as true sons, a relationship of confidence, freedom and trust in the love and mercy of God."

Neighbor

Another effect of this is a changed vision of others, the Pope said, as people near and far come to be seen as brothers and sisters, people "to be respected and loved."

"The Holy Spirit teaches us to look with the eyes of Christ, to live life as Christ lived it, to understand life as Christ understood it," he said. "That's why the living water that is the Holy Spirit quenches the thirst of our lives, because it tells us that we are loved by God as children, that we can love God as his children and by his grace we can live as children of God, like Jesus.

"And we, do we listen to the Holy Spirit? What does the Holy Spirit tell us? God loves you. It tells us this. God loves you, he desires your good. Do we really love God and others, like Jesus does? Let us allow ourselves to be guided by the Holy Spirit, let us allow him to speak to our hearts and tell us this: that God is love, that he is waiting for us, that God is the Father, he loves us as a true Father [Papà], he truly loves us and the Holy Spirit alone says this to our hearts."